Rustic Mushroom Tart, Baby Sewing and a Surprise Visitor!

 Pre-festive greetings to you! A few goings on from the week to share, from my world to yours...
1. Mushroom tarts:

I was making a meal for a friend this week and decided to go with a mushroom tart. Not having made one before I was happy with the result..so happy I ended up eating the second one myself..shh. It was a combination of several enticing looking recipes morphed into one..scroll down to see my kombi-recipe. 
2. Baby sewing:

(New Look 6793)

Two gifts were needed in a hurry for two different babies and New Look 6793 proved to be a most suitable pattern (if a little oversized!). Above is the dress version, view A, which I made in a 'small' size, although appears to be sized around 6months/00. 
Below are view C and D - pants and top which I made in newborn size, although actually turned out more like a commercial 3 month/000 sizing. That's fine..in both cases the recipients can grow into them... 

3. The Teen Creates:
Of late -  a gingerbread house. I had found myself in a situation with a large quantity of gingerbread dough in the fridge needing to be baked and she offered to make a house for the family...so as you might well imagine, I said yes. 
I don't know how this will go with my plan to cut out sugar from my diet *sigh*. But while I figure it out, I can still enjoy looking at it in all it's naive sweetness, literally! Those wonky windows I happen to find particularly charming!
4: A surprise visitor!:
What an exciting discovery to find a small turtle sitting near our back door last night! After observing it for some time, we watched it make it's way back into the dam, in a most peculiar, (turtle like even?) fashion. A movement kind of like a cross between a waddle and a sassy sway..with all four legs moving in time and a very, very long neck poking out of that small shell! Quite swift it was too, in fact. What a sight! Happy Solstice! :)

Rustic mushroom, caramelised onion and thyme tart

Ingredients:
2 large spanish onions, sliced
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1tbs brown sugar
500g button mushrooms, quartered
2 tbs butter
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-2 tbs fresh or dried homegrown thyme, chopped
125g greek feta, crumbled
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper
your favourite shortcrust pastry recipe
olive oil
Method:
Preheat oven to 180c. To begin, gently saute the onions in a little olive oil until transparent and then add the vinegar and sugar. Stirring often, allow the onions to cook down over a gentle heat until they are dark and thick, around 15-20 minutes.
Remove the onions and place into a separate bowl. Heat a little more oil in the pan and add the butter and allow it to melt and start to foam up. Add the mushrooms and cook gently until they are glossy and the juices are starting to run. Add the garlic and thyme and allow to cook until the mushroom liquid has nearly evaporated. Add the caremilised onions to the pan and season well.
Roll out the pastry into one large or two smaller squares and place on a lined baking tray. Heap the mushroom/onion mixture into the centre of the pastry and spread out to within about an inch from the edges. Fold the edges over to contain the mushroom mixture and brush pastry with beaten egg. Sprinkle tarts with crumbled feta and bake in the lower part of the oven for around 40 minutes, or until golden brown and base is cooked. Serve sprinkled with extra thyme with a green salad alongside.